Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook takes command filling in for Andrew Maxwell in spring game

View full sizeKatie Green / MLive.comRedshirt freshman Connor Cook threw for 314 yards while playing for both teams in Michigan State's spring game Saturday.

EAST LANSING -- There was the 45-yard completion, the 3-yard touchdown pass and the invaluable experience of having the entire spring game pretty much all to himself.

Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook relished the opportunity to rack up all of that playing time, taking full advantage of starter Andrew Maxwell’s sprained knee to show what he could do.

The 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman set aside his nerves and threw for 314 yards and a touchdown, completing 20 of 45 passes while serving as the signal caller for both teams Saturday.

He also proved to coaches and teammates he could lead.

“It shows he can take command,” running back Nick Hill said. “He took charge. It shows he’s a tremendous leader. Down the road, he’s going to be a great quarterback.”

Cook threw the deep ball, faced the blitz and ran the two-minute drill. Since being injured during the team’s first scrimmage two weeks ago, Maxwell has helped him grow as well.

“He’s helped me out a lot -- in practice, in scrimmages, and then today,” Cook said. “He was basically like another coach today. He was giving me the signals. I’d come off on the sideline, and he’d come out with my reads, any mistake. Anything I didn’t see on the field, he’d come off and tell me what he saw. He was just being there, being real helpful, being real supportive.”

Coach Mark Dantonio saw that Cook calmed himself after two incomplete passes to start the game. He did fumble away the ball in the third quarter and throw an interception in the fourth.

“He grew enormously I think in terms of playing in this type of environment, having to play every play,” said Dantonio, who also got walk-on Peter Badovinac snaps as well. “Also it’s a TV-type situation. Just the pressure of it all. I think he was very calm in the huddle.”

Said Cook: “Stuff like this doesn’t really happen often, so with Maxwell being out, you have to take advantage of it.”Email Diamond Leung at dleung@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/diamond83.